charm [ME] In the Middle Ages a charm was an incantation or magic spell, and did not acquire its meaning of ‘a quality of fascinating or being attractive to people’ until the 17th century. The word comes from Latin carmen ‘song or incantation’. Compare enchant. In the late 1970s people started talking of politicians mounting a charm offensive, a campaign of flattery and friendliness designed to gain the support of others. This is a fine example of an oxymoron, a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear together.